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Li Yong was the parliamentarian who had just spoken out to accuse Shrek and Chen Xinjie.
Although he hailed from the Spirit Pagoda and his soul power ranked him among the stronger parliamentarians, he was only a Soul Sage. Under Elder Long's sudden attack, even with the timely intervention of the parliament hall's defensive system, he was still gravely injured in an instant.
At this moment, Li Yong glared furiously at Elder Long.
Elder Long sneered, leaving his seat and taking deliberate steps toward Li Yong.
The other parliamentarians, though shocked and enraged, quickly stood up and distanced themselves from Elder Long, fearing that this madman might strike again.
The soul-guided beams fired earlier were nine-level soul-guided beams—powerful enough to injure even a Titled Douluo if struck directly. Over ten beams had hit Elder Long, so he should have been injured. Moreover, the autonomous defensive system had prepared a second round of soul-guided cannons, which also fired beams. The explosive damage from those would be even more terrifying.
Wave after wave of bombardment—no Super Douluo could possibly emerge unscathed.
Had Elder Long gone mad?
He dared to attack in the middle of a parliamentary session!
Meanwhile, Chen Xinjie had just intervened, blocking the previous round of soul-guided beams. His mental force also resonated, causing the staff operating the defensive system behind the scenes to immediately realize what was happening and manually halt the bombardment. This only deepened the suspicions of the parliamentarians.
Chen Xinjie… had truly sided with Shrek.
On the other side, Chen Xinjie let out a deep sigh and closed his eyes.
It was over.
Everything was irreparable now.
Naturally, he wasn't referring to his own reputation.
As he closed his eyes, Elder Long's voice reached his ears.
"Li Yong, ten years ago, when dark soul masters appeared in Tianhai City, according to the investigation by Spirit Envoy Xu Shengqun, your hand was behind their appearance."
Elder Long's voice spread throughout the parliamentary hall, and the entire assembly fell silent for a moment.
"Slander!"
Li Yong's eyes widened as he stared at Elder Long, wanting desperately to shout "slander." However, the severely wounded man felt an overwhelming heaviness in his chest as soon as he tried to speak. A tremendous soul power pressure bore down on him, and the dragonic aura seemed to merge with the surrounding heavens and earth, making the entire world target him.
"Recently, dark soul masters from the Holy Spirit Sect have been appearing all over the Federation. I suspect you're involved. As for who's behind the theft of the Godslayer Missiles, I believe everyone acknowledges that it's likely the Holy Spirit Sect, right?"
Elder Long's gaze swept across the room.
Sure enough, thanks to Elder Long's "reminder," the parliamentarians suddenly saw the light.
That's right—the Holy Spirit Sect had indeed grown increasingly rampant recently.
This was a fact.
In just the past five years, the number of crimes committed by dark soul masters had already surpassed the total from the previous thirty years.
Could this be because the Holy Spirit Sect had gained some kind of confidence?
It fit!
Everything made sense.
And even if it didn't fully align, based on the nature of these politicians, they'd still choose to pin the blame on an organization universally despised.
Agreement from two angles caused the parliamentarians to unconsciously nod along.
"You, Li Yong, have a history of colluding with dark soul masters. It's reasonable to suspect you're connected to the loss of the Godslayer Missiles," Elder Long said coldly.
After speaking, Elder Long turned his head toward Zhang Zhongli of the neutral faction.
"Chairman Zhang Zhongli, isn't this reason sufficient to investigate him?"
Li Yong's eyes widened, filled with both unwillingness and fear.
He knew—he couldn't withstand an investigation.
Forget about him; which parliamentarian here could withstand scrutiny?
Even among the fifteen chairmen, how many could endure such an investigation?
Who didn't have a dark history? Who didn't have ambiguous gray areas?
Moreover, Li Yong himself wasn't entirely sure whether he had cooperated with dark soul masters.
He had handled countless matters for Qiangu Dongfeng, and many times, he himself had wondered if there was involvement with dark soul masters.
Now, under the looming pressure of an impending investigation, he instinctively began to think in the worst possible direction, his face ashen.
Chen Xinjie opened his eyes again, having heard exactly what he had anticipated. He knew that a complete overhaul of the parliament was now inevitable.
He knew Li Yong well—his ties to Qiangu Dongfeng ran deep.
And Qiangu Dongfeng was nothing if not a social butterfly.
Any parliamentarian who had cooperated with him, no matter how slightly, had indirectly interacted with Li Yong. If Li Yong were investigated and found to have connections with dark soul masters, what about the others who had dealings with him?
As long as traces of collusion with dark soul masters were found in Li Yong's case, and as long as the true mastermind behind the theft of the Godslayer Missiles remained undiscovered, the investigation would continue to expand outward, starting from those familiar with Li Yong.
Until they found someone.
Or until they never found anyone.
Reopening his eyes, Chen Xinjie's gaze landed on Li Yong.
Zhang Zhongli remained silent, leaving it to Chen Xinjie to take charge.
"Investigate!"
They must investigate.
By now, Chen Xinjie was fully aware that he could no longer be considered absolutely neutral. No matter how impartial his heart might be, in the eyes of the public, he was already tainted—or rather, no longer neutral.
Therefore, he wouldn't be able to remain in this position for much longer.
Before stepping down, he intended to uncover how the Godslayer Missiles were lost and expose how many corrupt individuals remained in the parliament.
Perhaps this great purge of the parliament would be a good thing.
Chen Xinjie had come to terms with it.
If it couldn't be avoided, then he would embrace this cleansing, purging the Federation's bloodline once and for all.
To lay a solid foundation for the Federation's leadership for the next few hundred years—or even a millennium!
---
Shrek Academy
Inner Court
"The Five Elements energy is incredibly dense," Xu Yuan marveled, holding the Five Elements Pearl in his hand.
The Five Elements Pearl contained over a decade's worth of compressed Five Elements energy accumulated by Tong Yu, a ninety-eight-level Super Douluo, along with a trace of his primal bloodline power. Its quality was naturally exceptional.
The Five Elements Qilin bloodline was a mutation, exceptionally powerful.
Within this bloodline, the presence of the Qilin was surprisingly subdued, while the Five Elements energy stood out prominently.
This aligned perfectly with Xu Yuan's Heavenly Origin Brush.
"The Five Elements energy... the Qilin bloodline..."
According to his previous plan, Xu Yuan had intended to use the Five Elements Pearl as a medium to induce a spirit soul, then contract and fuse it with himself to compensate for the deficiency in the first soul ring of his Heavenly Origin Brush martial soul.
But now, things were different.
With the development of the Heavenly Runes, he had a better option.
He would use the power within the Five Elements Pearl to evolve his second Heavenly Runes.
Before Xu Yuan, the Five Elements essence within the pearl intertwined and entangled. The principles of generation and restriction between the Five Elements operated in ways that even Xu Yuan hadn't fully mastered, because a trace of Tong Yu's primal bloodline power allowed it to naturally execute many of the Five Elements techniques that Tong Yu had mastered.
The Five Elements energy evolved, and five characters intertwined.
Metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.
The five elemental runes intertwined, forming a unified whole.
The overall entity represented the Five Elements.
This was a complex character—not derived from any script in the Douluo world—but it naturally exuded Xu Yuan's will. This will conveyed one clear message to everyone: this was the meaning of the Five Elements.
Five Elements, completed.
Five Elements, integrated.
The Five Elements Rune fused into the first soul ring of Xu Yuan's Heavenly Origin Brush. In the blink of an eye, the previously purple first soul ring transformed, rapidly turning black and growing ever deeper with the passage of time.
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